


under the iron bridge

by death_as_a_fetish



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Gen, I didn't even realize I shipped harringrove until I started writing, I haven't posted fic in like eight years I'm rusty, M/M, and now I can't stop sos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 06:36:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13118115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/death_as_a_fetish/pseuds/death_as_a_fetish
Summary: Snippets of life in Hawkins, mostly revolving around Steve/Billy.A collection of drabbles, all written within the duration of a song.





	1. Goodbye Horses- Q Lazzarus

**Author's Note:**

> hi! my roomie and I were feeling pretty rusty, so as a writing exercise we put their spotify on shuffle and challenged ourselves to write for the duration of the songs that played. some of them are very short, some are longer, some unfinished, all have very little editing and were written for the most part in under five minutes. this is the first time I've really written/posted anything in like eight years, so I'm a bit out of practice, but I hope you enjoy them regardless.
> 
> (you can read their drabbles at frankiestardust)
> 
> this first one is a 90s AU

Goodbye Horses blared through the club speakers. Billy was sweaty, shirt unbuttoned, head thrown back, dancing like he didn’t have a care in the world. This was his escape. The only place he could let lose and be _himself_. His dad wasn’t looming over his shoulder here. He didn’t feel the crushing weight of needing to be perfect. The perfect guy with the perfect girlfriend and the perfect job and the perfect attitude. All things he wasn’t and would never be. _Goodbye horses, I’m flying over you._ Billy opened his eyes when he felt someone bump into him. All he saw was wavy brown hair. “Shit, I’m sorry…” the guy who had bumped into him said as he turned around. Billy was about to rip him a new one when they connected eyes.


	2. I Wanna Be Your Lover- Prince

Billy sat in Steve’s bedroom. Steve Harrington. Steve Harrington’s bedroom. On Steve Harrington’s _bed_. He and Steve had been put together for a science project, something they both had immediately protested, but their teacher told them to get over it. So here he was, in Steve’s bedroom working on… he didn’t even know what. All he could think about was the fact that he was in Steve’s bedroom, on Steve’s bed, watching Steve pace around the room hands flailing as he tried to explain _whatever_ , pen behind his ear.

 

“….so what do you think?” Steve was standing in front of Billy.

Billy blinked. “What do I think about what?”

Steve sighed. “Jesus Christ, man, I don’t wanna be here anymore than you do, but the least you could do is pay attention to what the fuck I’m saying so we can get this over with. The sooner we do that, the sooner we never have to talk again.”


	3. Kids- MGMT

Before all of this Upside Down stuff had happened in Hawkins, they were all just normal kids. Jonathan Byers was quiet and kept to himself. Nancy Wheeler got straight As and had an active social life. Steve Harrington was one of the most popular kids in school. When Will Byers disappeared everything changed. Jonathan lost his brother, Nancy lost her best friend, and Steve was stuck in the middle of it all. Nancy knew nothing would be the same the second she finished taping the picture of Steve’s backyard together. She had tried to keep Steve out of it. It was bad enough that she and Jonathan had this secret between them; this secret that meant neither of them would ever be the same.


	4. I Hate Myself for Loving You- Joan Jett

Steve leaned against his car, parked near the Hawkins quarry. He looked down at his watch _2 am_. He’d been waiting for Billy to show up for _three hours_. _Why the fuck am I still here?_ This was classic Billy. He’d tell Steve to meet him and Steve would always go. He’d wait for hours and sometimes Billy would show up, but more often than not Steve would end up going home feeling like an idiot for waiting around for Billy fucking Hargrove. He doesn’t know why he’s surprised anymore.


	5. Nowhere Man- The Beatles

Jim Hopper sat up in his bed and stretched his arms. He looked over at the clock _3 am_. He can’t remember the last time he slept through the night. He threw his legs over the edge of the bed and grabbed his pack of cigarettes off the nightstand before standing up. He padded over to the chair in the corner of the room he kept his jacket on and threw it around him. He lit up his cigarette before he even got outside.


	6. Wonderwall- Oasis

_so maybe you’re gonna be the one that saves me_

 

Billy Hargrove had never had an easy life. Between his parents splitting up, his dad’s explosive anger he always seemed to be on the receiving end of, moving from his friends and his life in California. Billy had always been walking, seething rage. It was the only way he had to deal with how fucked up everything was. The only guard he had in place to make people believe he didn’t hate his fucking life. He didn’t think he deserved anything good. He didn’t think he would ever meet anyone who thought he deserved anything good. And then he met Steve Harrington. Steve Harrington was like a small light at the end of a dark and empty tunnel. Steve was the first person he told about his dad hitting him. After their fight Steve asked him why he did it. What the fuck his problem was. Billy wasn’t normally an emotional person. Never let anyone see him cry. But here was Steve standing in front of him, eyes swollen and bruised, because of Billy. He felt like his dad.


	7. Midnight City- M83

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just love Steve/Nancy/Jonathan so much

Nancy’s head hung out the window of Steve’s car, hair blowing in the wind as he sped down the empty highway. She screamed out the window into the empty air before sticking her head back in the car and smiling over at Steve. Then she turned her head to the backseat where Jonathan was sitting and smiled at him, too. _Her boys_. If you had told Nancy Wheeler a few months ago that she would be sitting in a car with Steve Harrington and Jonathan Byers, she would have told you that you were ridiculous. If you had told Nancy Wheeler a few months ago that she would be in a relationship with Steve Harrington and Jonathan Byers, she would have laughed in your face and looked at you like you had grown an extra head.


	8. Push- Matchbox 20

_i wanna push you around_

 

Billy was always lashing out. No one could get close to him, he wouldn’t let them. If he let anyone close to him, they might see the real him. The Billy that under the hard, angry mask he had put on was really just a scared kid.


	9. Still Ill- The Smiths

_under the iron bridge we kissed, and although i ended up with sore lips, it just wasn’t like the old days anymore_

 

He doesn’t know when it changed. Things between him and Steve. One day it seemed like everything was fine, they were two dumb kids in love. Steve was the first person who had really _cared_ about Billy. He didn’t expect anything more from him than what he was able to give. He knew how fucked up and damaged he was and he still loved him. But lately things had been… different. Steve seemed distant and withdrawn. Billy couldn’t get a good read on him. It had come out of nowhere. One day, he and Steve were great, lying around on Steve’s bed, holding hands, running hands through each other’s hair. The next day, Steve would barely look at him. He had asked if something was wrong, Steve said no and kissed him lightly.


	10. Cubicles- My Chemical Romance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is an office AU

_sometimes i think i'll die alone_

 

Steve stared over at the empty cubicle next to his. Just last week that desk had been full of office supplies, papers, an obnoxious dirty blonde he had fallen in love with over the years. He thought back to the first day he met Billy. A temp agency had assigned him to help with some backlog at the office. Steve knew from the second he met him that he wasn’t going to get along with him. Smug smile on his face like he was the best thing that had ever happened to that shitty little office in Hawkins, Indiana.


	11. Blackbird- The Beatles

_you were only waiting for this moment to be free_

 

She had been trapped her entire life, locked up in a lab like a science experiment. She didn’t think she would ever get out of there. She couldn’t even imagine what the world outside of the lab looked like.


	12. Kiss- Prince

Billy liked Steve because he wasn’t fake. He was who he who was, no apologies. All the other people Billy had dated had all tried to alter who they were for Billy’s benefit. He never asked them to, but he knew them well enough before they started dating to know that they were putting on something extra for him. Maybe they were that way because Billy would become a more intense version of the (already intense) person he was. Or maybe Billy was that way because he felt like he needed to prove something to them. He never felt that way with Steve. It was the first time in a relationship (probably the first time in his life) he felt like he could be himself.


	13. Dreams- The Cranberries

_i know i’ve felt like this before, but now Iim feeling it even more_

_because it came from you_

 

Steve hadn’t felt like this since he met Nancy. Like everything was falling into place and he was on top of the world. He hadn’t felt like this since he met Nancy, and now here he was feeling this because of _Billy Hargrove_ of all people. Billy Hargrove, who had punched Steve’s face in in the middle of Jonathan Byers’ living room while a group of children watched.


	14. With a Little Help from My Friends- The Beatles

Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan had all bonded after their run in with the Demogorgon. Steve never thought he’d be hanging out with _Jonathan Byers_ , but here he was, hanging out with him and Nancy after school at his place. He guesses fighting off a monster from another dimension will change how you feel about a person.


	15. One Week- Barenaked Ladies

_three days since the living room, we realized we’re both to blame, but what could we do_

 

It had been three days since Steve and Billy had gotten in a fight in Joyce Byers’ living room. There was still blood staining the carpet.


	16. Boys Don't Cry- The Cure

Billy was always told boys don’t cry. The first time his dad hit him he had broke down in tears. _“Don’t be such a girl, Billy. Boys don’t cry.”_ Since then, Billy had put a guard up. He didn’t let anyone see him cry.


	17. Have You Ever Seen the Rain- Joan Jett

_someone told me long ago, there’s a calm before the storm_

 

Billy was still waiting for his calm. He felt like his life was a constant storm. His dad was always angry at him, always shoving him around. Billy was an expert at covering up his bruises and coming up with lies for the ones he couldn’t. No one ever questioned anything. Neil Hargrove was a great guy in the eyes of all who knew him. He had a good job, a nice wife at home, two kids that he had fooled everyone into thinking he cared about.


	18. Modern Love- David Bowie

Steve walked into the party, David Bowie blaring through the speakers. He looked around, searching for the drink table. Instead, he saw Nancy and Jonathan. This was the first party he’d been to since they broke up. Nancy looked up and saw him, a small smile on her face. He looked away and turned around, heading for the front door. The door swung open before he could open it. Billy Hargrove stood in front of him. _Great._

 

“Harrington.” Billy smirked

Steve rolled his eyes and shoved past him. “Hey, hey,” Billy said and followed after him.

 “Fuck off, Hargrove,” Steve spat.

“Look, I’m sorry I beat the shit out of you.” Steve turned around. “I was just…” Billy trailed off.

 

Steve stared at him, waiting for him to finish.


End file.
